


The Missing Praetor's Cape

by NyxLilith



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Camp Jupiter (Percy Jackson), Everyone Is Alive, Funny, GUYS HOW DO I TAG?, Gen, Leo Valdez Is Not Dead, Praetor, Roman Legion, Summer Camp, by the way y'all should comment, cause like i Need Moral Support, im so sorry, no chiron, should i write more?, somehow little me forgot about chiron, where the hell is chiron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:00:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23653483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NyxLilith/pseuds/NyxLilith
Summary: Reyna wakes up to find her amazingly fantastic, one-of-a-kind praetor's cape missing. MISSING? Under HER watch? Absolutely not!(aka Reyna threatening murder if someone doesn't find her cape, Frank just trying to be rational, and Leo being Not Smart).--This is a short piece that I wrote for school back in sixth grade. I am now much older and much more literate, but I just found this gem in my Google Drive and could NOT resist the temptation. Little has been edited, in order to keep the flamboyance my smaller self integrated into this piece, but I have changed a few things to make it run smoother and look clean.ALSO, @sazandorable, I gift this to you because you currently hold kudo records for the PJO fandom on AO3, so why WOULDN'T I want you to read this?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	The Missing Praetor's Cape

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sazandorable](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sazandorable/gifts).



> Like I said earlier, this is a piece written in sixth grade when I wasn't as literate and adept at story-telling as I am now. However, I published this because it has its own little charm, and not much is edited so it keeps its sixth-grader-flamboyance essence.

It was an absolutely horrible time to be at Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter: Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, co-praetor of _SPQR_ , made sure of that. She had the whole legion lined up, all 5 cohorts, and was giving them strict instructions as she marched back and forth, her dark, long braided hair flipping around viciously. Frank Zhang, co-praetor 2.0, was on the side, running his hand through his overgrown, once-there buzz cut. _His_ praetor’s cape was still there, as he was currently wearing it. Just who knew where Reyna’s was? Obviously, the thief had only targeted Reyna, and maybe for a reason...

“ALRIGHT!” Reyna’s voice boomed all around the training grounds. “5th Cohort: I want you in contact with the other camp _immediately_. All you other 4 cohorts, split up around camp! Find it. Or else both camps will _suffer from my wra—_ ” Frank glared at Reyna—“Too much? Alright. But now you all know. Go.”

“Is this really necessary?” said Frank, after the cohorts had left. “I mean, it _is_ just a cape. Couldn’t you just replace—” Reyna narrowed her eyes at Frank, making Frank shrink back.

“Do you not know the significance of a praetor’s cape, Frank?" Reyna asked venomously. "It is practice that it shall not be replaced unless it has gone through war, Frank, war!” Reyna hissed. “Do you want me to bring that little war-bringer, Octavian, back up here to start another one?” Reyna turned on her heels and went on giving marching orders to the rest of the legion.

Meanwhile, the 5th cohort legionnaires had arrived at Camp Half-Blood (via the recently installed a portal to get them there faster). The leader of the fifth cohort came up to Annabeth, unofficial co-leader of the camp, and started filling her in about the missing cape, and also how Reyna could be very dangerous when her personal items went missing. Soon, the entire camp was searching the grounds for the praetor’s cape, while in Camp Jupiter, Reyna was still screaming at the rest of the legionnaires.

But not Leo Valdez.

The Valdez child was in bunker 9, working on his installations for Festus, his flying dragon. Suddenly, Clarisse from the 5th cabin jumped inside.

“AHA! AHA! I FOUND YOU! I… SEEEE… YOUUUU…” she started dancing on the floor and spinning her spear. She had always hated Leo, the Ares and Hephaestus cabin had an old feud about Aphrodite.

“Wait, what?” asked Leo, running his hand through his shaggy brown hair. He pushed his goggles up. “I haven’t done anything! I mean, well, yeah, I’ve done a lot of things, but nothing this once!”

But… too late. Clarisse had already run to the portal and alerted Reyna. The 5th cabin dragged a kicking-and-screaming Leo Valdez out of bunker 9 and (much to his dismay) sat him down in front of Reyna. Leo paled. Behind her was Frank (Leo paled even more), and by order of Reyna, so was Octavian (Nico di Angelo, child of Hades, Ghost King, had summoned his evil-looking ghost).

“WHERE. IS. MY. CAPE?” asked a slightly deranged Reyna. “GIVE. IT. TO. ME.” Leo could almost see the steam coming out of her ears.

“Possessive much?” One of the campers muttered, and promptly received a death-glare from Annabeth. With her blonde hair and steely gray eyes, it was rather easy to achieve that.

“I don’t have it! I - I swear by Festus, I don’t have it!” stammered Leo, fidgeting with his toolbelt.

“AH, NO, MY FRIEND, YOU ARE LYING!” said Reyna with homicidal glee.

“But I was up all night last night, in bunker nine doing—”

“AHA! WELL YOU JUST CONFESSED YOUNG MAN YOU CLAIMED YOU WERE UP ALL NIGHT. YOU’RE ON TRIAL!”

“I— wait, what?” The Ares cabin happily pushed Leo to the mysterious meeting spot in the Big House, where all professional camp meetings were held, and talks of life and death matters were spoken of… the grand _ping pong table_ (que threatening dun-dun-dun sound).

Meanwhile Octavian, in the background, laughed, “BWAHAHAHAHA!” Everyone ignored Octavian. No one cared. He was dead. The dead are always ignored. Also, people tend not to chat with individuals who start full-on wars between the Greeks and Romans (which is yet another reason why Paris is lonely. Wait, no, that was Troy. Disregard this comment).

Soon enough, the ping pong table in the Big House was transformed into a (kind-of?) Roman Court, in order to _properly_ put Leo on trial. Leo, once again, claimed his innocence — "NO! PLEASE! I HAVE A FAMILY, THEY NEED ME ALIVE"—; he was, again, objected by Clarisse — "Leo, your mother is _dead_ and you're _fifteen_ " _—_ because there is something seriously wrong with that girl. Then again… it was almost impossible to argue with her: her spear, almost always by her side, and all those years training in camp, who would?

But this time, as proof, Leo showed the bunker 9 security tape that he had installed after getting a little obsessive over his inventions. There was no going back now: the tape clearly showed Leo working all night in bunker 9. That would _technically_ leave no reason for Reyna to be mad anymore...

But suddenly, with a newfound annoyance at Leo (it's really not that hard), Reyna screamed, “LEO, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? WE WOULDN’T BE NEEDING TO SEARCH FOR AN ENTIRE DAY AND NIGHT IF YOU HAD JUST SHOWN US THE SECURITY VIDEO FROM THE SENATE HOUSE!”

Did I mention Reyna hadn't slept in the past 24 hours because they had been searching day and night? She was _severely_ lacking melatonin. 

The others agreed with her logic.

_I mean, who relies on videos to solve crimes and prove others innocent?_ Thought Leo. _Oh. right. Everyone does_. Leo hooked up the videos from the Senate House, where Reyna lived, and suddenly, much to everyone’s dismay… the cape walked outside on its own.

“Well then, it must be the Lares,” said the leader of the fifth cohort, trying to sound smart. The fifth cohort was usually not respected. Also, the lares _did_ cause a whole lot of trouble at camp anyway, being ghosts and having more advantages than normal humans…

But no. Leo, being smart, pointed out that Lares were still visible.

Frank, Bellona bless his soul, noticed Octavian in the corner, with an evilly gleeful smile. _Someone should really stop ignoring that bastard,_ he thought. _He_ is _still evil_.

“Octavian. Did you steal Reyna’s cape?” Frank asked politely. He did that with everyone, no matter how evil they were. “I - I mean, I usually don’t go around blaming people, but I mean, if you don’t mind, could you please tell us? I - I mean, only if you want to! You totally don’t have to —” He was cut off by Annabeth. She glared at him and told him to get better at interrogations.

But there was no need! Octavian, being Octavian, wanting to bring war (and being a ghost) just laughed even more evilly than before, dropped Reyna’s praetor’s cape that he was hiding in his ghostly clothes on the ground, and went to fill up some ghostly forms to play in a ghostly movie either as the ghostly villain who laughs a lot or a ghostly ghost. He’d be good at that. He saw them every day. He _was_ one.

As everyone celebrated the return of Reyna’s cape and the newfound lack of murderous Reynas, no one noticed Leo Valdez mysteriously slinking away from the room. Everyone applauded Frank for finding the cape, and effectively interrogating the thief. After a short speech, Frank dropped the mic because he had seen people do it on T.V, and exited. (Later on, being Frank, he came back to see if the mic was alright). Reyna finally got her sleep. Annabeth nodded at the receding chaos around camp as everyone went back to doing what they were supposed to.

Well. I guess you could say that it was a fine day at Camp Half—

“LEOOOOOOOO!”

(ARE YOU KIDDING ME?)

**Author's Note:**

> Can y'all believe my teacher let me say bastard? She was chill. 
> 
> Also, here's my Tumblrs and Instagram if you guys wanna see me sounding like an actual writer: 
> 
> www.promptsforpoemproseandplay.tumblr.com
> 
> OR
> 
> www.why-it-it-always-raining.tumblr.com
> 
> @promptsforpoemproseandplay
> 
> Hope to see you there!


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